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Why Trimming Your Beard Is So Important

Beginning Your Journey

As you've probably already gathered, Beardbrand is all about growth. Growing your beard, hair, style, etc. Beyond that, the community around Beardbrand promotes self-growth in all aspects of a man's life. From character growth to career growth, there's always room for improvement in most aspects of our lives.

Growing a big, luscious, long beard is a tedious journey that few people complete. The journey itself is full of awkward stages and outside criticisms. However, in the end, those that successfully complete their journey and accomplish their goals have an awesome facial accessory to wear proudly.

For men currently in a growth journey, or thinking about starting one, there are things that need to be considered. To say growing a long beard is a commitment is a total understatement. Your journey is going to take a lot of time, we're talking a year minimum (depending on your goals).

Make sure that during this time, you're not going to run into any obstacles down the road that might force you off the tracks. If you're searching for a new job and also want to grow your beard out, there might be some complications. Another big determinant is external pressures from people close to you like family members.

If you can create a plan of action, and commit the necessary time, you have a wide open road to grow.

The Importance of Trimming

Now that you're a month or two into the growth process, you probably have a moderately full "corporate" beard. It's around this time you should start planning your trim.

Yes, that's right, even if you're going for the three foot beard, you're going to need to trim it up occasionally.

WTF kind of bullsh*t is this? Is what you're probably asking yourself right now. Hear me out, to get the best looking and healthiest beard you can possibly grow, you need to take this crucial step.

I'm not talking about taking inches, or even centimeters off of your beard. Simply using a pair of quality grooming scissors to snip away the split ends will help tremendously during the growth stages.

Scissors are also a great tool to keep your mustache under control if you prefer to keep it above your lips. Many guys don't like to battle their mustache while trying to eat, so opt for this route. With steady hands, your scissors can keep the stache looking sharp, without taking away from the bulk.

Although split ends can be minimized using beard oil or beard balm, they are still inevitable. Having excessive amounts of split ends will actually slow down the growth of your beard, and make it look scraggly and untamed.

From Scissors To Trimmers

As your beard continues to mature in the growth process, you can pull out the trimmers. Tapering the sideburns to a shorter length than the rest of your beard will add a little structure to your face. This will keep your beard from puffing out on the sides. Some men prefer this look, in which case you simply continue to trim off split ends, but leave the overall bulk and length.

When you have significant length to your beard, and have reached your goals, even then you will need to continue to do maintenance trims every now and then to keep the beard looking its best.

Many guys put a long guard on their clippers and push the blade downward with the grain of the beard. This is an expedited method to trimming flay aways and split ends.

Symmetry Is Key

Since parts of your beard grow at different speeds, it's important to maintain symmetry as well. If one cheek is looking long and dense, but the other has fallen behind, you'll need to trim and shape the longer side to give the shorter side a fighting chance.

Regardless of which stage you're in of your growth journey, don't be afraid of a little trim here and there. Although is seems counterproductive, trimming your beard will promote healthier, and sometimes even faster growth. Below are a couple video tutorials of beard trims at different lengths.

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I’ve not been successful maintaining symmetry. I think I’m snipping split ends on the sides but the sides end up unequal. Unless you have some tips, I’ll leave it to my barber. I do clip my mustache and have about another inch to reach my length goal.